More Than Half Of Albertans Have Seen A Chiropractor

I know, that sounds like a lot, right? Technically that means that if you look left and then look right, one of those people has seen a chiropractor.

As an advertiser who uses television and online methods to reach Albertans, you can imagine we get a lot of comments about our ads. Sometimes comments are supportive, for example: “In a world filled with the lamest of commercials, I must say your new stunt person commercials are a treat. I actually giggled out loud and must say – well done.” (Thanks again for that one, by the way!)

But sometimes we get questions – questions that we take seriously. And over the last couple of years we have been asked repeatedly for clarification by viewers who don’t believe that more than half of Albertans have seen a chiropractor.

Questions like:

“I’ve listened to your ads on television and cannot comprehend your stats that 50% of Albertans have seen a chiropractor. Where do you get the stats from? I talked to the people in my office of 14 people. According to your ad we should have 7 people who have seen a chiropractor but only 1 in our office has.

I’m just wondering about your truth in advertising.”

And:

“I would like some clarification on a statistic you state on a commercial.

The commercial states that 1/2 of Albertans have visited a chiropractor. Are you stating that 1.75 million unique Albertans have visited a chiropractor or that there was 1.75 million total visits?

Please clarify.”

As a responsible advertiser, we want to set the record straight for all other Albertans who might be wondering the same thing.

The answer is yes, the statement is true and no it is not about visits. Our statement reflects actual Albertans who report that they have received treatment from a chiropractor.

The question we ask is: “Have you ever personally received treatment from a chiropractor?”

As far back as 2005, in an Environics National Public Opinion Survey, 56% of Albertans reported “yes.” Our most recent data comes from November 2014 in an Ipsos Omnibus Survey, when 54% of Albertans reported “yes.” Consistently over these past 10 years, more than half of Albertans report they have been treated by a chiropractor.

Now, throughout the years we (and other national groups) have conducted various other surveys to gather this data. But we always work with reputable companies to administer the surveys, have used a variety of methodologies and always sample enough Albertans for the data to be statistically significant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_significance).

We hope this helps to clarify and encourage you to contact us if you have any other questions or comments.

As a last note, thank you to all of our patients who continue to value chiropractors as part of your healthcare team. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure chiropractic in Alberta is regulated and promoted appropriately so that you continue to receive expert care.